To counter your cold water...........
Chip market to double in five years
Dispatches from BancBoston Robbie Stephens
The market for chip equipment will double over the next five years to $35 billion, Jim Morgan, chief executive of Applied Materials (AMAT: news, msgs), said during a luncheon speech Thursday at the BancBoston Robertson Stephens semiconductor conference in San Francisco. The growth will be led by chips for servers, cell phones and consumer gadgets. The growth rate for sales of these chips is expected to be twice that on chips for personal computers. "Semiconductors are the engine of the information age," Morgan said.
Applied Materials (AMAT: news, msgs) Chief Financial Officer Joseph Bronson said continuing consolidation in the DRAM industry should eventually firm up capacity, but the company expects to produce below capacity for fiscal 2000, Bronson said. Applied Materials also must reduce materials costs as a percentage of revenue going forward, he added. The company is slated to report third-quarter numbrs Aug. 17. The First Call consensus profit estimate is 53 cents a share.
KLA-Tencor (KLAC: news, msgs) Executive VP Robert Boehlke said his company will continue to add products to its portfolio. "Asia Pacific has been unusually strong for us," he also said. KLA's gross margins continue to show improvement and Boehlke said he believes this trend will continue. And R&D costs will slowly fall to 35 percent, he added.
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